Isaiah 19:11

19:1-17 God shall come into Egypt with his judgments. He will raise up the causes of their destruction from among themselves. When ungodly men escape danger, they are apt to think themselves secure; but evil pursues sinners, and will speedily overtake them, except they repent. The Egyptians will be given over into the hand of one who shall rule them with rigour, as was shortly after fulfilled. The Egyptians were renowned for wisdom and science; yet the Lord would give them up to their own perverse schemes, and to quarrel, till their land would be brought by their contests to become an object of contempt and pity. He renders sinners afraid of those whom they have despised and oppressed; and the Lord of hosts will make the workers of iniquity a terror to themselves, and to each other; and every object around a terror to them.

Isaiah 19:11-15 . Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, &c. — Zoan was the chief city, in which the king and court frequently resided. In these verses the prophet describes “the immediate causes of these evils; 1st, The folly of the princes and rulers, who valued themselves upon their Wisdom , , 2 d, The cowardice and effeminacy of the people in general. Egypt would not have become a prey to so many foreign enemies, but through the excessive weakness of the Egyptians, both in counsel and in action. They had not the courage even to defend themselves. They trusted chiefly to their Grecian and other mercenaries, who, instead of defending, were often the first to betray them.” — Bishop Newton. How say ye unto Pharaoh — Why do ye put such false and foolish words into Pharaoh’s mouth? I am the son of the wise — Wisdom is hereditary and natural to me. This vain opinion of himself they cherished by their flatteries. The son of the ancient kings — The prophet derides the vanity of the Egyptians, who used to boast of the antiquity of their nation, and especially of their kings, who, as they pretended, had reigned successively for 10,000 years. Where are thy wise men? — Who pretended, that either by their deep policy, or by their skill in astrology, or magic, they could certainly foresee things to come. The princes of Noph are deceived — Another chief city, and one of the king’s seats, called also Moph, in the Hebrew text, ( Hosea 9:6 ,) and by other and later writers, Memphis.

They that are the stay — Their chief counsellors; of the tribes — Of the provinces, which he calls by a title borrowed from the Hebrews, in whose language he spake and wrote this prophecy. The Lord hath mingled — Hath poured out, or given them to drink, a perverse spirit — A spirit of error, or delusion, as the LXX. and Chaldee render it. That is, he has suffered them, in punishment of their sins, to take foolish steps, and follow pernicious counsels. They have caused Egypt to err in every work — In all their designs and undertakings. They have given such ill counsel, and pursued such wrong measures, that nothing has succeeded as it should. Neither shall there be any work which the head or tail may do — The people shall generally want employment, or, as some explain it, all orders of men, from the highest to the lowest, shall fail in the discharge of their duty, or be unsuccessful in all they undertake.

Surely the princes of {i} Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become senseless: how say ye to Pharaoh, I {k} am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? (i) Called also Tanes, a famous city on the Nile. (k) He notes the flatterers of Pharaoh: who persuaded the king that he was wise and noble, and that his house was ancient and so he flatters himself, saying I am wise.

Zoan; the chief city, in which the king and court frequently resided. See Psalm 78:12 . Brutish; exceeding foolish, and destructive to themselves. How say ye unto Pharaoh? why do you put such false and foolish words into Pharaoh’s mouth? I am the son of the wise; wisdom is hereditary and natural to me. This vain opinion of himself they cherished by their flatteries, although he undid himself and his people by his folly. The son of ancient kings: he derides the vanity of the Egyptians, who used to make great brags of the antiquity of their nation, and especially of their kings, who, as they pretended, had reigned successively for above ten thousand years; which number of years they made up by this craft, by making those successive kings, which reigned together at the same time, in their several Nomi, or provinces.

11. Zoan—The Greeks called it Tanis, a city of Lower Egypt, east of the Tanitic arms of the Nile, now San; it was one the Egyptian towns nearest to Palestine (Nu 13:22), the scene of Moses' miracles (Ps 78:12, 43). It, or else Memphis, was the capital under Sethos. I am … son of the wise … kings—Ye have no advice to suggest to Pharaoh in the crisis, notwithstanding that ye boast of descent from wise and royal ancestors. The priests were the usual "counsellors" of the Egyptian king. He was generally chosen from the priestly caste, or, if from the warrior caste, he was admitted into the sacred order, and was called a priest. The priests are, therefore, meant by the expression, "son of the wise, and of ancient kings"; this was their favorite boast (Herodotus, 2.141; compare Am 7:14; Ac 23:6; Php 3:5). "Pharaoh" was the common name of all the kings: Sethos, probably, is here meant.

11 . Surely … fools ] Mere fools are the princes of Zoan . Zoan (Tanis, between the two most easterly mouths of the Nile), an ancient city ( Numbers 13:22 ), had played an important part in Egyptian history. Formerly the seat of the Hyksos kings, it had subsequently given its name to two native dynasties (21st and 23rd). Partly because of its proximity to Canaan it is frequently mentioned in the O.T. as representing Egypt. The next clause runs literally: the wisest counsellors of Pharaoh—stupid counsel (sc. is theirs)! how say ye unto Pharaoh …] The wisdom of Egypt was the hereditary possession of the priestly caste to which the early dynasties belonged. The counsellors are here introduced boasting of the purity of their descent from these kings and sages of the olden time. Read (in both cases) a son . 11–15 . The stultification of Pharaoh’s advisers.

Verse 11. - Surely the princes of Zoan are fools . Zoan, or Tanis, which had been an insignificant city since the time of the shepherd-kings, came to the front once more at the time of the struggle between Egypt and Assyria. Esarhaddon made it the head of one of the petty kingdoms into which he divided Egypt (G. Smith, 'History of Asshur-bani-pal,' p. 21, 1. 2). Early in the reign of his son it revolted, in conjunction with Sais and Mendes, but was ere long reduced to subjection by the Assyrians. Its king, Petu-bastes, was taken to Nineveh, and there probably put to death. Its "princes" were, no doubt, among those who counseled resistance to Assyria. The counsel of the wise , etc.; literally, as for the wise coun-sellers of Pharaoh , their counsel is become senseless . Two classes of advisers seem to be intended - nobles, supposed to be qualified by birth; and "wise men," qualified by study and education. Both would now be found equally incapable. Pharaoh . Probably Tirhakah is intended. It is possible that he was really suzerain of Egypt at the time of Sennacherib's invasion, when Shabatek was nominally king. It is certain that, after the death of Shabatok (about B.C. 698 ), he was recognized as sovereign both of Ethiopia and of Egypt, and ruled over both countries. Esarhaddon found him still occupying this position in B.C. 673 , when he made his Egyptian expedition. Tirhakah's capital at this time was Memphis. How say ye , etc.?

(11) Surely the princes of Zoan are fools. —Zoan, the great city of the Delta, was known to the Greeks as Tanis, founded, as stated in Numbers 13:22 , seven years after Hebron. Here the great Rameses II. fixed his capital, and the city thus acquired the name of Pi-Rameses. How say ye unto Pharaoh . . .?—The princes of Zoan, probably priest-princes and priest-magicians (Exodus 7:11), boasting at once of their wisdom and their ancestry, are represented as speaking to the Pharaoh of the time (probably, as in Isaiah 18, of Ethiopian origin) in something like a tone of superiority. They claim to be the only counsellors; and the prophet challenges their claim. Can they disclose, as he can, the future that impends over their country?

Surely the princes - The following verses, to Isaiah 19:16 , are designed to describe further the calamities that were coming upon Egypt by a want of wisdom in their rulers. They would be unable to devise means to meet the impending calamities, and would actually increase the national misery by their unwise counsels. The word 'princes' here is taken evidently for the rulers or counselors of state. Of Zoan - The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Chaldee, render this 'Tanis.' Zoan was doubtless the Tans of the Greeks (Herod. ii. 166), and was a city of Lower Egypt, built, according to Moses Numbers 13:22, seven years after Hebron. It is mentioned in Psalm 78:12; Isaiah 19:11, Isaiah 19:13; Isaiah 30:4; Ezekiel 30:14. It was at the entrance of the Tanitic mouth of the Nile, and gave name to it. Its ruins still exist, and there are seen there at present numerous blocks of granite, seven obelisks of granite, and a statue of Isis. It was the capital of the dynasty of the Tanitish kings until the time of Psammetichus; it was at this place principally that the miracles done by Moses were performed. 'Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt; in the field of Zoan' Psalm 78:12. Its ruins are still called "San," a slight change of the word Zoan. The Ostium Taniticum is now the "Omm Faredje." Are fools - They are unable to meet by their counsels the impending calamities.

Perhaps their folly was evinced by their flattering their sovereign, and by exciting him to plans that tended to the ruin, rather than the welfare of the kingdom. The wise counselors of Pharaoh - Pharaoh was the common name of the kings of Egypt in the same way as "Caesar" became afterward the common name of the Roman emperors - and the king who is here intended by Pharaoh is probably Psammetichus (see the note at Isaiah 19:4). How say ye ... - Why do you "flatter" the monarch? Why remind him of his ancestry? Why attempt to inflate him with the conception of his own wisdom? This was, and is, the common practice of courtiers; and in this way kings are often led to measures most ruinous to their subjects.